Nashville SC is getting its stadium, and the city’s mayor gets to claim a measure of victory after extracting more than $50 million from the new MLS club’s ownership.
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Nashville mayor John Cooper had been accused of holding the Major League Soccer outfit hostage, refusing to approve the demolition of old buildings until he got a better deal for the state.
In the new deal, demolition at the fairgrounds begins immediately and Nashville SC agrees to pay $54 million more to the city. The stadium project saw its price tag rise by $50 million last year, according to the Associated Press.
Here’s the breakdown, via The Tennessean:To accommodate the mayor’s demands, the team will pay $54 million more in potential expenses — which includes $19 million in infrastructure and $35 million for stadium debt payments the city was previously on the hook for if sales and ticket revenues came up short.
The city will issue $225 million in bonds for the stadium and pay $25 million for stadium-related infrastructure as part of the original deal. The team will pay for all overrun costs on the stadium, which is now estimated to cost $335 million in total.
The Tennessean reports that the immediate demolition will happen before state court hears a lawsuit from local flea market vendors over the demolition of their fairgrounds home.